Water shut-off and rotation release for stopers



Sept. 22, 1959 v M. O'FARREELL V 2,905,442 WATER SHUT-OFF AND ROTATION RELEASE FOR STOPERS Filed May 27. 1954 6 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. JIATI'HEW 0 AffELL By /E M HZ'Z'OIf/YEY,

M. O'FARRELL WATER SHUT-OFF AND ROTATION RELEASE FOR STOPERS Filed May 27, 1954 Sept. 22, 1959 I 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 Q 1 m p WW NA 0 mW w wafl &N m

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.m ml: M NM i \\N M Q as mu w TBY WATER SHUT-OFF AND ROTATION RELEASE FOR STOPERS Filed May 27, 1954 M. O'FARRELL Sept. 22, 1959 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 kk W l.=

NE N m w mm r W Sept. 22, 1959 v M. O'FARRELL WATER SHUT-OFF AND ROTATION RELEASE FOR STOPERS Filed May 27, 1954 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 IN VEN TOR. M92705 0 Sept. 22, 1959 M. O'FARRELL 2,905,442

WATER SHUT-OFF AND ROTATION RELEASE FOR STOPERS Filed May 27, 1954 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 IQ I08 INVENTOR.

flzf sa WATER SHUT-OFF AND ROTATION RELEASE FOR STOPERS Application May 27, 1954, Serial No. 432,773 6 Claims. (Cl. 255-36) This invention relates to water shut-oil and rotation release for rock drills of the stoper type.

*Stopers adapted for use in a mine to make a roof bolting operation are first required to drill a hole into the roof laminations sufiiciently deep to enter the solid rock above these laminations, and While doing so deliver Water to the drill head to wet the dust created by the drilling operation. Such stopers rotate the drill head and at the same time provide the water to the hole. With a rotating drill head such stopers are not readily adaptable for use in driving the bolt into the hole made during the drilling operation. It is the second requirement of the drill to drive such a bolt which has a cleft-entering end, into which is introduced a wedge, and this bolt must be driven home to the end of the hole until the wedge engages the end thereof to cause the end of the bolt tobe spread and to be locked into the roof rock material. Asthe bolt is driven against the bottom of the hole, the wedge is forced deeper into the cleft, thus spreading the bolt end and firmly anchoring the same in the roof rock. A plate is provided on the lower end of the bolt and this plate is supported by a nut which is thereafter tightened when the bolt has been driven home and wedged in the hard rock so as to force the plate against the roof face.

While drilling the hole, it is necessary that the'drill have rotation and also that waterbe carried to the drill tool head to washout the cuttings. During the bolt driving stage, the presence of bothwater and rotation constitutes: a nuisance, and it is, therefore, necessary that both the water and rotation be conveniently and rapidly rendered inactive by the operator.

It is thus a principalobject ofthe present invention to provide in a rock drill of the self-feeding stoper type a sini-plecontrol means whereby asingleshifting or turning of a lever the supply of water and the rotation of the drill-are stopped so as torender the stoper-adapted for boltdriving without the need for using a non-rotating rock drill to drive the bolt'into thehard roof rock into which a hole hasbeen made bythe stoper.

It isanother object of the invention toprovide in a rockdrill of the roof bolting stoper type anairoperated pawl engageable with the ratchet ring to normally hold the ratchet ring against rotation whereby to normally effect the rotation of the drill toolheadwhile making the drilling operation and which is releasable from the ratchet ring to render the ride bar ineffective to turn the rotatable parts of the stoperand thereby to provide a control for the rotation of the stoper;

It:is another object of the invention to provide in a rotating stoper a water con-trolvalveformed into the end. of the stoper and having parts axially releasable from the end of thestoper to permit easy access to the water tubeso thatit canbe readily removed-from the rear of the stoper by striking itwith an internaltoolat the-forward end of the stoper.

It, is another object ofthe invention to provide in a stoper. an air control valve-that is adjustablebetween two positions ,anda ratchet ring releaseand a water valve,

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both of which are air operated, and both of which simultaneously are controlled by the one air control valve.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a simple Water and rotation control for rock drills of the roof bolting stoper type which is of simple construction, inexpensive to manufacture, requires a. minimum number of parts, is compact and easily built into the stoper, requires little space, has little chance of breaking, and is durable, automatic and efiicient in operation. 7 I

For other objects and for a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in connection With the accompanying drawing, in which: I I Figure l is an elevational view of the stoper' s'et for effecting a drilling. operation in the roof rocklaminatioris of the mine with water being supplied to the drill tool head and the stoper adapted for rotation of the drill tool; Fig. 2 is an enlarged elevational view of the stoper somewhat contracted and with a special tool head provided therein to effect the drivingof the roof bolt into the hard rock with the stoper having its water supply shut ofi and fixed against rotation; Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of the stoper free of the mine roof; .7 Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary end eleva-tionallview taken of the back head structure with portions broken away and shown in sectionto show the interiorconstruetion. thereof; a Fig. 5 is a section taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 4 showing therelease piston in normal positionilockingthe ratchet ring against rotation; r

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 but showing. the release piston in a position whereinthe ratchet ring is released for rotation;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary elevational view Withportions of the structure broken away to show the ihteriorconstruction thereof and such view being an extensionof Fig. 4 and showing, the drill tool end' of the stoper} Fig. 8' is a fragmentaryelevational view of the back head structure of the stoper showingthe main-air control valve in section; I P Fig. 9 is a fragmentary section taken on line 9-9of Fig, 1 0- is a vertical sectional view taken through-the back head structure,,as viewed on. line 10-10 of Fig. 8; Fig. 11 is. a vertical section on line 11-1 1-of Fig.'8; Fig. 12 is atransverse sectional'view takenthrough-the cylinder structure at 12-42 of Fig. 4; -and looking;at the endof the rifle bar.

Referrin now particularly to Figs. 1, Z and 3,20 represents a cylinder structurethat liesintermediate-feed leg assemblies 21 a-nd'22, all three of whichare secured together at their forward ends by. a front cross head structure 23=and attheir rear. endsbyabackcross head strutcure 24. The feed leg cylinders. extend. downwardly beyond'the back head structure 24, and out ofthem extend feed leg pistons 25 and 26-that at the lower end by a feed piston cross head 27 having afeed pistonpoint 28 engageable-withwhe minefio'or.

Out of thedrill cylinder structure 20 extends -a drill are joined together tool ..29. that has a cuttingheadSG for forminga hole 31 in. roof-rock laminations v32. This drill. is-'fed "auto-'- matically by the feed cylinder structures to drill this hole 31 suitablesfor receiving a roof'bolt -33; I

The stoper is caused tobe operated by turning handl 34 of the main air valve'assembly-35 to which air-hose 36- and fittings 37 extend to supply the stoper withtli e operating air. A- small hose 38 and fittings 39"d'eliver water to the back head assembly to deliver the waterto the end-of the hole-while the drill29 is in operation;

3 This water will fall out of the hole with the cuttings which it has washed therefrom.

According to the present invention and in order to adapt the stoper from the drilling operation to the bolt driving operation, as illustrated in Fig. 2, it is only necessary to move a small lever 41 from a position as shown in Fig. 1 extending outwardly in one direction to a position where it extends laterally outwardly from another direction, as shown in Fig. 2. When this is done, the ,water is shut 011, and the drill head chuck 42 is made free of rotation, in a manner to be later described in detail. The drill tool 29 is removed, and replaced with a bolt driving tool 43, Fig. 2, having a socket 44 adapted to receive a nut 45 threaded on the bottom end of the roof bolt 33.

The root bolt is of the standard type, threaded at its lower end to receive the nut 45, and at its cleft-entering end has a wedge 46 that engages the end of the hole.

The wedge serves to expand the end of the bolt so that its edge grips the sides of the hole in the end thereof and in the hard rock above the laminations and serves to support the laminations when the nut 45 has been tightened against a retaining plate 47 and this plate brought tight against the roof face. The tightening of the nut is eifected with special wrenches after the bolt has been driven into the hole. The nut will be held .upon the bolt due to the upsetting of a projecting bottom end portion 33a of the bolt by the bolt driving tool 43.

' The drill cylinder structure 20 has a handle 48 secured to the same adjacent the drill end thereof by which the 'stoper can be handled. Extending from the drill cylinder structure 20 is an oil supply plug 49 and exhaust 'ports 50 and 51.

Air enters the stoper through the air hose 36 and fittings 37 leading into the air valve assembly 35 containing 'an air valve sleeve 52, Fig. 8, having elongated openings '53 and 54. This air, as indicated bythe arrow, enters the sleeve 52 and is delivered, as shown in Fig. 9, to a reversing valve assembly 55 constructed and operated in :the well known manner to cause the reciprocation of a piston structure 56. Handle 34 is secured to a reduced threaded end 57 by a nut 58 and retaining washer 59. By means of the handle 34, the valve sleeve 52 is turned between on and oil? positions.

The valve sleeve 52 is positioned in a housing 35a of the valve assembly 35. This housing has an enlargement 60. Threaded into an open end of this enlargement is a swivel nut 62 in which the inlet fitting 37 is swivelly retained. Enlargement 60 is relieved so as to allow the escape of air from the valve sleeve 52 through a port 63, Fig. 8, for delivery to an air control valve opening 64 having the air cylinder valve 65 to which the handle 41 is attached. The cylinder valve 65 is rotatable in the opening 64 and has a passage 66 that extends radially inwardly and connects with an axial passage 67 of the valve element 65 that delivers the air axially to radially extending ports 68 in the valve 65 to deliver the air to a port 69 and to a passageway 70 in the back head struc ture 24. The valve element 65 has two sealing rings 71 and 72 axially spaced from one another and lying respectively upon the opposite sides of the radial openings 68.

When the valve element 65 is turned to a position so that the handle 41 extends vertically, as shown in Fig. 5, air will be delivered simultaneously from the ports 68, which'are arranged as a T, to the port 69 and the passage 70.

The port 69 delivers air to the ratchet ring piston release chamber 73 having a cap plug 74, Figs. 5 and 11.

Within the plug 74 is a release piston bushing 75 that is held down by the plug into the back head structure and is forced against a sealing ring 76. Within the bushing is'a ratchet release piston 77 that is normally urged upwardly by a release piston spring 78 lying within the bushing and surrounding the piston. Air from the port 69 flows through a groove 79 in the outer surface of the bushing 75, and passes inwardly through notches 80 to the top of the piston 77 so as to force the piston 77 downwardly and into locking position within a recess 81 in rifle bar ratchet ring 82, whereby to hold the ratchet ring against turning. This ratchet ring has ratchet teeth 83 (Figs. 5 and 6) on its inner periphery engaged by rifle bar ratchet pawls 84. These pawls are normally urged outwardly by spiral compression springs 85, when the ratchet ring 82 is locked by the release piston 77. A reaction member is provided for a rifle bar 86 having integral riflings 87, Fig. 4. The rifle bar 86 has an enlarged end portion 88 that lies within the ratchet ring 82 and contains the ratchet pawls 84. The rifle bar extends forwardly through the reversing valve assembly 55.

The piston structure 56 has a rifle bar nut 90 that cooperates with the-rifiings 87 so that when the rifle bar 86 is locked against rotation by the release piston 77, the piston structure 56 is given step by step rotation, and the pawls 84 will be worked over the ratchet teeth 83, the ratchet ring 82 being anchored.

The forward end of the piston structure 56 has splines 91 that work through a chuck rotation nut 92, Fig. 7, fixed to a rotation nut sleeve 93. The rotation nut sleeve 93 is locked with the chuck sleeve 42 at 94. The drill tool 29 extends into the chuck sleeve 42 up to its fixed collar or flange 95 and is of hexagonal section so as to lock with the chuck sleeve 42. This drill tool has a central opening therein as indicated at 96 through which water may pass.

A water tube 97 passes through the rifle bar 86 and the piston structure 56 to deliver water under pressure to the drill tool opening 96. The drill tool opening 96 carries the water to the upper end of the hole being drilled. The piston structure 56 hammers the inner end of the drill tool to effect the drilling action. The chuck sleeve 42 with the drill element will be turned on each forward thrust of the piston structure. The piston structure moves forwardly and rearwardly until it uncovers exhaust opening 51 to permit the air to exhaust itself and thereafter the reversing valve mechanism 55 will change to reverse the movement of the piston structure 56. The piston structure 56 runs in a cylinder liner 98.

The water tube 97 has an enlargement 99 on its end that engages with plate 100 to hold the tube against forward displacement. This enlargement 99 has a sealing member 101 that rests against the plate 100 to prevent leakage of water along the outside.

The water enters the back head structure 24 from the hose 38 and fittings 39 and is delivered by way of a water passage 103 to a water valve chamber 104 in the back head structure 24. This chamber is closed by a cap 105 having a vent opening 106 therein. Within the chamber 104 is a sleeve housing 107 that has an annular groove 108 for receiving the water from the passage 103. Sealing rings 109 and 110 prevent leakage of water along the chamber wall and confine it to the groove 108.

In the sleeve housing 107 is a central valve opening 111, in which slides a water control valve 112 having a conical seal 113 engageable with a seat 114 on the sleeve housing 107 and over which the water may pass when the valve element 112 is lifted therefrom. The sealing ring 115 prevents water from passing rearwardly along the valve element 112. An internal annular recess adjacent to the seat 114 is provided at 116 to receive water from annular recess 108 on the exterior of the sleeve housing 107 by way of radial inclined passages 117. Water is always present in the recess 116 and can be delivered to the tube 97 at any time that the valve element is unseated. The valve element has a sleeve enlargement 118 that contains a compression spring 119 that urges the valve element toward its seat. This spring reacts against a retaining plate 120 secured by a spring ring...121.seeured inure,sleerahen ina. 03. Theses mashed against. forward isplacement .by. t 192 918 1.19.. andt eeod f; the. slee eper callfigw a. sealinaringlzz to prevent thesoutwarddlow. a s 1 or. .water from the s oper. when wa er is flnsddi 'ew to thetool head. 1 w 7 To openthe.watervalvellz. airunderpt ssurefrom the passage 70 in the back head structure is delivered to an annular groove 123- in'th sle'vehousing 107 and radial passages 12.510 a longitudinal passage 125 that communicates with an air chamber 126 in thesleeye housing, 107 where the air acts against the sleeveipprftion 113? of the valve to move it rearwardlyl againstthegactlon ot l 'p n 1 .9 'f V Withthe handle 41 of thevalve 65 extendingin, the direction shown'in Figs. Sand11,air'is,deliveretii to 1the ratchet ring release piston and to thewater control valve to lock the ratchet ring 82 against rotation, thereby to permit rotation of the drill tool in the manner above described, and to cause the water valve 112 to be unseated and the flow of water delivered to the water tube 97 and to the drill hole. The stoper is then adapted for use in drilling in the manner illustrated in Fig. 1 with water entering and leaving the hole 31 with the cuttings.

To place the stoper in condition for bolt driving operations, handle 41 is turned so as to rotate valve 65 to the position shown in Fig. 6. In this position of the valve all three radial holes 68 will be located wherein they will connect to an exhaust vent 127 the air supply pas; sage 67 in valve 65, port 69, and passage 70. Following this action, the ratchet release piston will be disengaged by its return spring 78 from the ratchet ring, so that the latter will be free to rotate and thus disable the rifle bar from rotation. Venting of passage 70 will cause the water control valve 112 to be seated by its return spring 119 so as to block flow of water to the tube 97.

The water valve 112 Will thus remain on its seat and block the flow of Water to the tube. The stoper is now adapted for use in driving the roof bolt in the manner as shown in Fig. 2.

It should now be apparent that there has been provided a stoper wherein, by a simple turning of a valve handle conveniently located on the stoper, the stoper is converted from a rotating to a non-rotating stoper and that automatically in the conversion, the water delivery is controlled. The water is shut off automatically at the same time the rotation of the stoper drill tool is stopped.

While various changes may be made in the detail construction, it shall be understood that such changes shall be within the spirit and scope of the present invention, as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a stoper drill for use in the drilling of roof bolt holes and the setting of roof bolts in the drilled holes,

wherein the stoper drill has in a casing a drill steel rotation mechanism for rotating a hollow drill steel during hole drilling operations, and also a fluid supply arrangement for supplying flushing fluid to the drill steel during hole drilling operations, the combination in the casing including a rotation control means which may be operated to render the rotation mechanism either efiective or ineffective, a flow control means which may be operated to permit flow or stop flow of flushing fluid to the drill steel, and a common control means which may be used to simultaneously operate said rotation control means and said flow control means when the stoper drill is being operated.

2. In a stoper drill according to claim 1, in which the drill steel rotation mechanism includes a rifle bar the end of which has a head portion supporting pawls resiliently biased for engagement with teeth formed on a normally rotatable ratchet ring surrounding the head portion, said rotation control means including a ratchet control piston slidable in a chamber of the casing and which may be projected in part out of the chamber for engagement for engag ment. with.are ssnf he atqh ina$9 a to a the latterasainst e tion dur na qlt. se n one a qn nne mat eprs e supp y me ns je t e qmm QQntIQl means for communicating, pneumaticpressure to he; pi on ch m e o s p ie t e. pi n d e il a means effective to restore the pistgntothe chamber upon discontinuancefof the pneumatic pressure supply to the pistqnphamber and-meansabout the recess-for guiding the ratchet control piston into' the latter.

3.; Inga stoperdrill forusein thedrilling ofroof bolt holes, and the setting of,- roof bolts in the drilled holes, wh r nlhe stoper ri hh s n a as nsa a he i a, rifle a theend of h ns ud s a. hea 119 1 ce ra ly. of ef c ting h v pawls e ly bia ed for ensagem ntrwith teeth orm bqut he nn a l of. hera chet r ng. sa ifle arbe ns a ra e for. herotatimet:aho lovt drillzst e r ndt Wa er sunply tube for conduction of water to the drill steel, the tube having an open end in a water supply chamber of the casing, the combination including a ratchet control piston means which is slidable in a chamber of the casing and may be projected in part out of the chamber for locking engagement in a recess of the ratchet ring so as to restrain the latter against rotation during bolt setting operations, spring means normally holding the piston in its chamber free of the ratchet ring, a second piston slidable in a second chamber of the casing, spring means normally projecting the second piston in part out of its chamber into seated engagement with the open end of the water tube so as to shut oii the flow of water through the latter during bolt setting operations, and pneumatic pressure supply control means common to both pistons and operable to simultaneously supply pneumatic pressure to the chambers of both pistons, the pneumatic pressure applied to the first chamber adapted to project the related piston out of the chamber against the load of the related spring for engagement with a recess of the ratchet ring and the pneumatic pressure applied to the second chamber adapted to return the second piston to its chamber so as to uncover the open end of the tube to admit flow of water therein during hole drilling operations and means about the recess for guiding the ratchet control piston into the latter.

4. In a stoper drill for hole drilling and bolt setting operations, including a casing, a piston hammer reciprocable therein, a rifle bar splined in its upper portion in a rifle nut mounted in the piston hammer, the rifle bar having a head at its opposite end including a plurality of pawls pivoted therein and tensioned constantly outward of the periphery of the said head, and a ratchet ring including teeth about its inner wall surrounding the head of the rifle bar and engaged by the pawls of the latter, the ratchet ring being normally rotatable relative to the casing so as to oscillate with the rifle bar upon reciprocating of the piston hammer during bolt setting operations; pneumatically operable means for locking the ratchet ring against rotation so as to enable a step by step rotation of the rifle bar relative thereto during drilling operations, comprising a plunger slidable in a chamber of the casing at right angles to the periphery of the ratchet ring, a compression spring forcing the plunger into the chamber free of the ratchet ring, and a pneumatic control valve for supplying pneumatic pressure to the chamber rearwardly of the plunger so as to pressurize the plunger against the load of the spring into abutment with the periphery of the ratchet ring, wherein the ratchet ring has a plurality of circumferentially spaced steps formed in its periphery, each step having a shoulder at its inner end rising radially to the surface of the periphery of the ratchet ring and a radial recess in the step at the foot of the shoulder, the plunger being adapted upon pneumatic pressure acting thereon to descend upon one of the steps passing below during oscillation of the ratchet ring and to engage in the radial recess of the step so as to lock the ratchet ring against rotation.

5. The structure as in claim 4, wherein the radial recess and plunger engageable therein have complementary diameters, and the shoulder of the step is semi-circular and "in continuation of the wall of the recess, the shoulder serving as an abutment causing the ratchet ring to limit in one direction of its oscillation against the projected plunger, and the semi-circular formation of the shoulder serving as a guide facilitating engagement of the plunger in the recess.

- 6. The structure as in claim 4, wherein the piston hammer and rifle bar are hollow through, a water flow tube open in its ends is fixed at its lower end in the casing and extends through the rifle bar and through the piston hammer to a point short of the upper end of the latter, a spring loaded plunger valve slidable in a chamber of the casing is normally seated over the lower open end of the flow tube, passage means communicates the last mentioned' chamber with the pneumatic control valve, and the latter is operable in one position to supply pneumatic fluid simultaneously to the chambers of both plunger-s so as tocause one to lock the ratchet ring against rotation and the other to be unseated from the water flow tube, and is operable in a second position to shut as flow of pneumatic pressure to both of said chambers.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,728,328 Fuehrer Dec. 27, 1955 

